


Every Challenge Along the Way

by ProfessorDumbleBrows



Series: RinHaru Week 2014 [8]
Category: Free!
Genre: M/M, Pokemon AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-28
Updated: 2014-11-28
Packaged: 2018-02-27 07:51:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2685014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProfessorDumbleBrows/pseuds/ProfessorDumbleBrows
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rin is a Pokemon trainer who strives to get his next badge, the Ocean Badge. However, upon meeting a new person, he is met with a new challenge. Will Rin be able to get over this challenge or will he give up?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Every Challenge Along the Way

**Author's Note:**

> Last day of RinHaru Week. It's been fun! Hope you enjoy this last fic.  
> Yes, this is a Pokemon/Free! crossover~  
> Also, kudos to anyone who gets the reference in the title 8D
> 
> Day 8: Crossover

Rin yawned as he walked to the new city. Looking around, he saw… water. Water everywhere. A waterfall in the distance, lakes, an aquarium, hot springs, a swimming centre. He stopped in his tracks in the middle of the city and looked around with disbelief. Usually gym leaders would be in a land that most suited their Pokemon and even their interests. He could only imagine what this gym leader had in store for him.

He stopped off at the Pokemon Center first. It was only natural for him to change his party and heal his Pokemon before venturing off to see the rest of the city. But upon looking at the Pokemon he caught thus far, he felt his eye twitch.

“What?!” He exclaimed as he saw a bunch of level tens and twenty-fives at most. He brought his hand up to rake through his hair and groaned, checking his current party to see them in the late forties and in the fifties range. Clicking his tongue, he looked back at the Pokemon in his box. Fortunately, he found some in their forties that they could manage.

By the end of his transferring, he was left with six new Pokemon in his party. Fire types with the exception of one fighting, one grass, and one water. Looking at his party, he knew he was going to struggle. And that was why he made it his duty to stock up on hyper potions and full heals after healing his Pokemon.

Stepping outside of the Pokemon Center, he saw the sun was going down. Narrowing his eyes, his shoulders slumped with disappointment. At this rate, the gym was going to be closed! Looking around, he did remember there being a swimming center. It had been a while since he swam, so he began walking over to it.

Going through the works of getting a locker, changing into his swimsuit, and finding a place to set his towel, he slipped his goggles on and pressed them. He pulled the rubber from a force of habit and grinned before diving into the pool. There weren’t many people around, but the pool was open until late, so he did not complain at all. But he overheard some guys in the locker room mention that the gym leader was in the pool.

Swimming from one end of the pool to the other, he only noticed two other people in the pool. Two teenagers around his age, to be more precise. He was expecting to see this “powerful” gym leader and was only met with disappointment. Stopping at one end of the pool to catch his breath, he looked over to where one of the teenagers jumped in. His eyes widened at how he swam; his technique was graceful, careful, yet strong enough to give a sense of ripping through the water. Who was he?!

When the swimmer came to the other side and resurfaced, Rin stopped him before he had a chance to go under the water again.

“W-Wait!” He said, catching the other’s attention. “Your swimming… Can I race you?”

The male blinked, not used to having someone ask to race against him. It was usually Pokemon battles or little competitions, never something to do with his passion for swimming. He nodded and pulled himself outside of the pool. Rin grinned and repeated the action, getting ready to jump in again. From the opposite end, the unnamed teen’s friend smiled, knowing this was a new experience and a refresher from Pokemon battles.

By the end of the race, both were sprawled out on the side of the pool. Their breaths came in heavy pants and the third teenager walked over to them with their towels.

“Here. That was really impressive!” He said, a warm smile on his face.

They took their towels, mumbling their thanks.

“What’s your name?” The currently wet unnamed teenager asked.

Rin hummed in acknowledgement before responding, “Rin Matsuoka. Yourself?”

“Haruka Nanase.” He responded before looking over to his friend. “He’s Makoto Tachibana.”

“Nice to meet you both.” Rin said, throwing the towel over his head to dry his hair.

Haruka and Makoto exchanged glances, questioning each other if the male knew who Haruka was.

“Hey… Tomorrow, can we go against each other again?” Rin asked, peeking from under his towel.

Haruka blinked. His first thought was for a battle but that didn’t make sense in this situation. “Sure.” He responded simply, not daring to give up the chance to experience this new emotion again. It was close to the feeling he had when he won his first gym battle back when he was a trainer at the age of ten.

The three gave their goodbyes after getting ready to leave and Rin made his way to the city’s hotel to book a room. The next morning rolled around and Rin was awake bright and early. He showered, dressed, made sure his holder and bag were set, and headed out the hotel to go to the cafe for breakfast.

In the cafe, he sat down and a waitress came to take his order. After she left, Rin looked around aimlessly at his surroundings. However, his eyes stopped to see Haruka walking inside. He figured Haruka must have saw him too because soon he was approaching him.

“Hey.” Rin greeted.

“Hey.” Haruka greeted in return. “It’s rare to see anyone my age in here so early.” He added.

“Yeah well… I decided I needed to eat something before I go over to the gym.”

At this, Haruka tensed up. “...Gym? You’re a trainer?”

“Yeah.” Rin lifted up his shirt slightly to show his belt with his Pokeball holder attached. Haruka blinked and frowned. “Aren’t you a trainer?” Rin asked, having ran into many trainers his age along his journey thus far.

“I guess you can say that.” He said, shaking his head. “I have to go, I only came to quickly get something. I’ll see you soon.” Haruka said with a short wave before going over to the counter.

Rin blinked. “Uh, bye…?” He raised an eyebrow, rolling his eyes at the sudden farewell. But the hint of annoyance that began to reach out to him was pushed away as the waitress brought his food. He thanked her, ate, and paid before leaving the cafe to head over to the Pokemon gym.

Standing in front of the building, he took a deep breath. This was it… He would be half way done with collecting all his badges and he would be able to go on to the next town. Rin stepped forward, pushing the door open but pausing as he saw who was standing by the entrance.

“...Makoto?!” He exclaimed, hesitating at first from not remembering his name right away.

“Rin? I… I didn’t expect to see you here. I didn’t know you were a trainer.” Makoto said, blinking with wide eyes.

Rin stepped all the way inside and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah… I am. Wait, if you’re here does that mean Haruka is--”

“Go see for yourself.”

He looked ahead of him to where an obstacle of jumping over lily pads to get across to the next platform was. He should have expected his gym would have been difficult and full of water. Sighing, he took a step forward before hearing Makoto’s voice.

“When you get to the second floor, try not to slip. Third floor, try not to fall out of the raft.”

Rin furrowed his eyebrows, looking at Makoto with a “what are you talking about?!” look. Makoto smiled and turned around to face the front again. Rin shook his head and went on with jumping across the lily pads. It was tricky because they shifted around under his weight. But nonetheless he made it and fought his battles along the way.

The second floor was made of ice. Certain areas cracked under his feet and under the ice was freezing cold water. Haruka was brutal, Rin thought as he repeated his cycle of making it across the floor and fighting the trainers along the way.

The third floor was filled with three flat platforms with wide bodies of water in between. The waves of the water were strong and there was a raft waiting at each body. So that’s what Makoto meant… He almost fell out twice, but made it across in the end.

Going into the elevator, Rin felt his heart ram against his chest. He made sure to get his potions ready to heal some of his pokemon when he has to. The elevator doors opened and across from him stood Haruka, one of his Pokemon -- Greninja -- standing next to him.

“Glad to see you made it up here alright.” Haruka said, his voice much more colder than it was yesterday or even earlier that day.

Rin stepped out of the elevator and approached the arena. “You didn’t make it easy. I can tell you that.”

Haruka’s face remained calm but his eyes gleamed with amusement. “Are you ready?”

“Been ready.” The other grinned, his hand placed on his side to grab his first Pokeball.

“Then I challenge you to a Pokemon battle for the Ocean Badge.”

The battle begun as both sent out their first Pokemon. Rin’s being Blaziken and Haruka’s being Magikarp.

Close to the end of the battle, Rin was left with two Pokemon as Haruka was left with three. He was almost out of potions and his Sawsbuck could only perform Horn Leech but so many times. The battle was over when Haruka’s Lapras finished off Rin’s Sharpedo. Rin retreated his Pokemon and looked at Haruka.

“I… I lost.” He said, overwhelmed with disappointment.

Haruka looked at Rin, retreating his Lapras and jumping across the stones on the side of the arena to get over the water. He approached Rin and placed a hand on his shoulder. Rin shrugged him off and turned his head to look the other way.

“Rin…”

“I’m leaving.”

As Rin turned around to leave, Haruka grabbed his arm. “Hold up, now. Just because you lost this battle, doesn’t mean it’s over.” He said. “Look, you’re a strong trainer. I saw a bond between your Pokemon and you.”

“Apparently it wasn’t enough.”

“It was. And it is.”

Rin stood silent, continuing to avoid Haruka’s stare.

“I can help you.”

“How?”

“We can train together.” Haruka offered, his voice softening a bit.

“You’re a gym leader, its different. You already have your powerful Pokemon.”

“I can still afford to learn how to form stronger bonds, though.”

“...”

“Come back tonight. I’ll keep the gym open for you and we can train overnight. By the end of it, I promise you’ll be stronger.”

Rin sighed. “So we’ll train… Just the two of us?”

“Just the two of us.”

“And you’ll help me.”

“And I’ll help you.”

The frown on Rin’s lip curved upward a bit. “Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me. Now go on, I have other trainers. I’ll see you tonight.”

“See ya.” Rin said, giving a short wave before walking to the exit. He looked at the waterslide before looking back at Haru, who simply looked away bashfully. What can he say, he loved water.

The redhead shook his head before going down the slide, already feeling the energy come back to him for the night.

 


End file.
